The European Parliament is investigating a Polish politician for hate speech after declaring that "women must earn less than men, because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent" during a gender-pay debate this week.
"They must earn less — that's all," Janusz Korwin-Mikke declared in a floor debate on Wednesday, CNN reports.
He is an independent Parliament member who founded a right-wing political party, the Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic — Freedom and Hope, in 2015.
In the past, Korwin-Mikke has charged that women should not be allowed to vote — and in 2014, he was investigated for incitement to rape over remarks he made to Parliament.
But he was ripped immediately by an outraged colleague, Parliament, Iratxe Garcia Perez of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.
"I know it hurts and worries you that today women can sit in this house and represent European citizens with the same rights as you," she said, CNN reports. "I am here to defend all European women from men like you."
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said Thursday in a statement that an investigation had begun into Korwin-Mikke's remarks.
Tajani cited Rule 11 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure.
Under the rule, "members' conduct shall be [characterized] by mutual respect" and "members shall not resort to defamatory, racist or xenophobic language or [behavior] in parliamentary debates," CNN reports.
"Penalties range from a reprimand to a fine and temporary suspension," the statement said.
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